Green Terror Laying Eggs

[chocgirl]

Hi, I am not actually new to this site, but i havent been on the site for a while and could not log in with my old details so have joined again.

We have a green terror, i always thought it was a boy as the colours were so bright and metalic, but she has just layed hundreds of eggs (and is still laying them) obviously is being quite aggressive as she is protecting them.

Before laying her eggs she first moved the sand down one end and then blows it in to the corner ? Out of interest - Why does she do that?

Before i noticed the eggs, i was trying to clean the glass, and she started to attack me, and when you sit close to the tank, she seems really stressed, so i am staying away as i do not want to upset her.

As the eggs will not be fertilised, How long will this last for (mostly her aggressive behaviour), will she eat the eggs?

Also will this now happen regularly?

We have had her for about 20 months, and she is gorgeous, a right character.

 

[Dwarfs]

She will probably eat the eggs and return back to her normal self soon, and if she laid eggs once, she will probably do it again. As for moving the substrate, sh may have been making a depressed area in the sand to put the eggs, or she might just be strange

 

[vancouver]

She was probably cleaning an area to lay the eggs, or setting up her own little defensive position. Why not add a male and let them breed?

 

[chocgirl]

Thank you for your replies.

We was thinking about putting in a male and letting them breed as i feel so sorry for her, as she is doing such a good job protecting them. I would love to breed her...

But thought they may fight alot and get hurt , and how can you be sure you get a male? - sorry if those questions seems dumb.

Our tank i think is big enough it is 105 Imp Gal / 127 US Gal. ANd all we have in there is our Green Terror, a pleco and 2 Silver sharks, these are about 7 inches long, and i have had no trouble with them and our GT, as i know the sharks are peaceful fish.

Any thoughts on these matters, would be greatly appreciated as would rather hear your suggestions than, LFS.

 

[kubora666]

you could try hybriding, 2 green terrors would beat the crap out of eachover, put it in with a closely related male fish, or just a much smaller male and hopefully there shal be no casualtys

 

[vancouver]

If you have dividers you could try breeding through a divider.. I've seen pics of people who breed aggressive fish through a divider.. they put a flat rock right beside the divider, the female lays the eggs on them, and the male fertilizes them through the divider without even touching the female. Never tried it myself, but read and saw some stuff about it.

 

[chocgirl]

Two very interesting ideas for breeding, i have not got any dividers unfortunately.

Will think about the hybriding or putting in a smaller male.

Cheers for your replies.

 

[vancouver]

You can usually make dividers out of stuff found at hardware stores.. I use plastic cardboard type stuff, but it's not as good as the plastic vent covers I've seen some people use.

If you wanted to hybridise them, you could try a male convict

 

[chocgirl]

Thanks vancouver, another thing i wanted to ask is she is still staying right close to the eggs and now they look like they are turning mouldy (its been 3 days), and she is showing no signs of eating them, should i now remove them and how would be the best way as she is so proctetive.

Thanks

 

[vancouver]

I would try using either a gravel vac, or a turkey baster.. you should be able to scare her off using the turkey baster or gravel vac... if not use the net and get her away from the eggs while you remove them.

 

[juanveldez]

I too have a female GT that was sold to me as a male. heres the deal unless the eggs have been layed right on the glass your going to have to remove what ever it is that she layed the eggs on and clean it off. they are like cement and won't come off without a fight. I wouldn't worry too much about her getting so aggressive that it would hurt. I have been bitten by my fish more times than I care to count. the only one that ever really scares me is my JD and thats because hes so big even when he doesn't mean too the way that he comes and bites scares me more than the actual bite its self.

 

[chocgirl]

Yeah ... I managed to get the eggs out, she was very upset, but we both survived it and already she is back to her usual self.

Have changed the tank about to break it up as are thinking about putting another fish in. Been around the LFS(s) They have put me off getting a Male convict and all were far too small anyway. And LFS said GT not popular around here, if they did breed i will not be able to get rid of the babies.

I see that 'juanveldez' has a Jack dempsey in with hers, I really like them, Do your two get on well. (I know what works for you might not work for me) but since getting the GT 20 months ago have not added any more fish, and would like to get just 1 more nice, big fish for the tank.

LFS said I could have Geophagus Brasillensis, Gold Severum, Apollo Shark, Fire Eel or an Oscar - Any one have any suggestions?

 

[juanveldez]

mine are divided as the 8.5 inch JD would like nothing more than to kill the smaller female GT. however they are a "pair" and the JD will do nothing more than saulk around the tank if she isn't in the tank. that and the JD is also a show quality fish so no sense in risking damage to him the last time he broke down the divider she really did a number on him and even now a year and a half later he still isn't healed up and most likely won't be healed up for another couple of years if ever. imo unless your going to have a divided tank perminatly really its far to risky to add another fish to the mix as the GT already claims the entire tank as hers and will defend that entire territory.

 

[chocgirl]

No i do not want a divided tank, and i dont want no casualties either, if she will defend her territory, if i got a fish same size or bigger will that not keep her in check. hope that is not a silly question? Just so much want another fish in the tank, as they is so much space

 

[juanveldez]

I wouldn't try it with another cichlid would just be too much fighting. what ya might try and do and this is what alot of people I know do is that they will get a group of silver dollars. depending on the size of the tank they will often go with like 4-6 red hook silver dollars the group of them are fast enough to move out of the way and big enough to take the beating. me personally I use electric yellows as dithers.